Standard Disclaimer: I do not own Destiny. I also do not work with/for/at Bungie, and I do not own the company either.
A Titan asked me once, why things were the way they were.
"Why are we losing all the time? Why are Guardians falling in droves, just to slow the minions of the Dark down?"
He was a new Guardian, you have to give him that.
So I told him, something of a good reason why. "Because my new friend, the Dark is seemingly endless. We are not. Guardians can only equal up to the number of Ghosts that exist. Unfortunately, they don't. Many Ghosts never live long enough to even find their Guardians. And every Guardian that falls in the Dark, is one that isn't coming back, and one that isn't being replaced. As such, we must fight with everything we have and still survive, fight or flee, and make sure we live as long as we can while we uphold our Duty. For the City needs every Guardian its got, and every hour of survival we can buy it. If that means we fight till we run out of ammo, till our guns and blades are broken, till our Light is empty, buying time for our people, and killing more of those that would kill us, then so be it. Only when we have the option to flee, and have to survive should we do so. Many are trapped in the Dark though, and they can't flee then. But always live as long as you can, for you serve the City best that way. After all, your kill count stops when you die."
He nodded and walked away after that. I felt rather proud then, felt like I'd helped another kid learn something good again, like I'd preemptively saved another one of my brother's lives.
I learned he died not 6 months later.
He went down covering a Raid teams retreat after they had finished up another Champion of the Dark, and had come across a remote little settlement under fire. They all made it back to the Wall of the Last City.
He didn't.
He took my advice, and he saved a lot of lives. In fact, I heard several of the kids amongst those refugee's were prime Guardian material. They went on to become Guardians, and spread the same idea that their savior gave them before he went off. They saved a lot of lives, and several more Ghosts found Guardians.
I felt a little out of sorts after that. One little Pep Talk managed to set a kid on a path that ended with him dead, and a lot of people taking the same ideas I'd invested into him, into themselves. I was confused, and a little guilty. But, I had pushed that all away, and went back to doing what a Guardian does best: Fighting the Darkness.
I didn't ever look at what those kids did or passed on. I never found out their fate, or that of those they came across in their travels.
These days, I wish I did. Maybe then I could have changed this future. Tweaked the story at the least!
But then again, those are just "What ifs" and "Maybes". And Regrets like those aren't the type of things I was looking for in my life, nor my second.
Of course, now it seems like that's all I've got left. All the Remains.
It's also pretty funny, as the morning of the First Night of "Hell" for the Last City, well...it was a Red Dawn.
Considering when I lived and part of a major story from my time, I found this to be horribly ironic.
It's made me wonder, quite often I might add, whether this is what Jiraiya felt like in his final years. Back when I read his story, well, mostly fan-fiction of it really. Still, it got the point across, and it always seemed sad and depressing, his fate that is. His students- well, I must say, in the words of a wonderful classic, Spoilers!
After all, with such similarities as these, it's almost like this Future of ours...was already Written in the Stars.
Lemme go back. Back awhile. A little like using a Vex Timegate almost. Let's go back to...
A Long Time Ago...
I'm a Hunter. And a Warlock. Yeah, sounds weird I know, but I'm a rather rare case of Cross-Class. Means I can use the abilities of more than one of the general broad basic Classes of Guardians. I just so happen to manage being a Full Hunter and a bit of a Sunsinger at the same time (I'm not a full Sunsinger sadly though). I'm pretty epic that way. Anyways, I'm just you're slightly average-but-completely-not Hunter, Cayde's one of my best friends (because we're both epic, awesome, get along great, and have pretty similar personalities), and I'm one of the best Hunters we've got. Yes, I'm an ass, and yes, I'm confident, probably to an overt degree, but considering a Guardian, especially the best, and the ones out in the field the most, use every weapon they've got to survive and fight, it should come as no surprise that this is also a weapon of my own to utilize.
Anyways, where was I? Ah yes, my official registry calls me Star...I think. I haven't checked in a while. Well, whatever. It's good enough for now. While it's not the name I was born with, it was the name I chose when I made it through my Trial by Fire out there in the Wilderness, when I first Woke Up. It's the name that's stuck with me the whole way since. One that's been carved into the Hall of Legends, in the Tower (the home of the Guardians in the Last City, near the Southern Wall), at this point. I'm not entirely sure how, but I managed to become a Legend. Me, a once-upon-a-time nobody nerd in the middle of no-where USA, managed to become one of the Legendary Guardians, the ones that every Guardian knows the names, and often the feats of. One of the absolute best Guardians in the entire history of our service. To be honest, I'm still baffled by this. But I remember my old name nonetheless, despite the decades upon decades upon decades of my own service to the City.
Funny, almost half the Guardians I've ever met can say that they remember their old names. Overall, it's something of a 50/50 split on those who can recall anything before their Ghosts found them, often including how they died. It's been somewhat of a problem, for both sides. But given who we are and what we do, I can't it surprises me that we all have plenty of problems, many of them Emotional and Mental in nature, ignoring the obvious Physical wounds that count for most of the Physical problems 'round the Tower. But me? I'm one of the Lucky ones it seems. And not a day goes by that when I think over my past and all that other junk I was just talking about, that I'm not thankful for that. I may not remember how I went out, and I may not know if I'll ever see anyone of my friends from then now, in the form of another of my brothers or sisters, but at the least...
I remember Me.
All the rest of my past that I still remember, many of the stories I'd come across and enjoyed in my youth, etc. And for now, for me, that's good enough. Like a lot of things nowadays for me, it's just gotta be that. Good enough.
A/N: Well, hello there! I'm a fan of Destiny, and I had an idea a while ago to try to make a sort of story for it (Likely like many others out there). Well, I recently have gone through a couple of darker stories and some more Destiny fanfics, and decided to start writing and see what comes out. Strangely enough, I started writing and ended up somehow with some idea from a completely different story. However, just because there are similarities doesn't mean that I'm going to follow that path. In fact, at this moment, I really don't know which type of path this story may go down, should it reach that far along. So, to anyone actually reading this little author's note right now, I do not, currently have a set plan, other than putting together the best world, story, and set of adventures that I feel should work for my own Guardian that I'm using as a base, with some additions. Other than that, and the fact that this story can, and likely will be of a darker nature, one which I'm going to try to reflect for just how very dark a place the world of Destiny really is, there could be a happy end, a normal end, or a bad end. I can't, and obviously wouldn't, say yet. Just know, that there will be death of Guardians. Including friends. And while it will possibly be quite saddening, it's apart of the necessity of really writing something for Destiny I feel. And WOW this was a long A/N. Any more in the future probably won't be this bad, but I guess this will serve as a good intro for my first published work. I do not expect pity, so please tell me any of your thoughts and/or ideas if you're willing! It'll hopefully help anyways.